Dear Senator Franken, this isn’t #SNL. It’s my life.

Sir, I have a bit of a bone to pick with you about your recent comments during the confirmation hearing for Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos. I hope you’ll kindly indulge me for just a moment to correct you on some of the things you said and perhaps more importantly, things you left out, during your time with the microphone.

You basically took it upon yourself to condemn Indiana’s school choice program on a national stage. But I live in Indiana. I’m a mom. And I’ve exercised school choice in Indiana. And I must say, you got a lot wrong, Senator. You should really speak to your staff about that.

Here’s what you said:

“Basically what was happening is we were taking money from poor kids needing resources and giving it to middle class kids to continue going to religious school.”

This statement is proof that you either do not understand school funding or made the choice to deliberately mislead the public. If, as you claim, the children are middle class children from the suburbs, then their per pupil dollars would reduce the money at their suburban schools, not the urban schools you claim are losing all the money.

And perhaps even more glaring is that you totally failed to mention that Indiana’s poor and minority children have been under-educated for decades. And for generations. This is precisely why school choice came to be in Indiana. I have two children graduating in a little over a year and when they started high school every Indianapolis Public school had a D or F rating.

Would you, Mr. Franken, put your child in a school with a D or F rating? Would you expect your friends or Senate colleagues to put their children in a school with a D or F rating?

We all know the answer, sir, because your children attended a school that costs more than $40,000 per year, a school known for educating celebrities and the children of royalty. Literally, people who wear crowns on their heads.

Here’s an excerpt to help you see your own hypocrisy, in case you missed it.

“Minnesota Sen. Al Franken’s two children attend Dalton School, described by the liberal-leaning Daily Beast as “one of New York’s most exclusive and rigorous private schools and boasts an impressive roster of celebrity alumni, including Anderson Cooper and Claire Danes.” Dalton’s application asks parents to list any prestigious titles they hold, including, “Princess, Senate and Ambassador,” according to TheDaily Beast.

Franken describes Dalton as “a very high-powered, expensive New York City private high school.” How expensive? Dalton’s tuition is currently $44,640 a year.”

So, Senator, with due respect, you really don’t have much standing to criticize Indiana’s school choice program while ignoring the fact that urban school districts were failing to provide quality education long before charter schools or vouchers were even a thing. Year after year, the people of Indiana have been paying taxes to a system that has under-educated an entire generation while at the same time, they’ve watched crime and incarceration in these same neighborhoods increase.

I suppose I’m somehow misguided in your mind, Mr. Senator, for not giving the D and F schools in my zip code a chance with my children. Is that because I never worked for Saturday Night Live, because I’m black, because I’m not part of the Who’s Who of American high society? I guess you think it’s okay that without school choice, I would have been obligated to send my children to lousy schools.

If your issue is that not enough families have access to quality education, then we agree. I have spent years adjusting my work schedule and jumping through logistical hoops to make the school choice thing work. So I agree that lawmakers need to make vouchers and charter schools more accessible to more families in Indiana.

My question to you, Senator Franken, is how in the world have you and those before you been willing and able to sit by while black and brown and poor children have been trapped in underperforming schools? Whether in your state of Minnesota or my state of Indiana, there is an injustice right before your eyes that you are ignoring. I assume you realize that the fancy Dalton School you are used to isn’t really what school is like for regular Americans like me. I certainly hope you realize that.

Sir, we need you to fix the problem, not lecture us from your high perch about how you don’t agree with us being allowed to have options.

My family is a choice family. We are not anti public school; on the contrary, we are pro quality education no matter where it exists. And while I am pleased to see improvements in the Indianapolis Public Schools, it has come too late for my children. So I am most grateful to have been able to educate my children at a high quality Christian schools that has prepared them in content and character. I’ll bet that the Dalton school prepared your children in lots of ways that make you grateful and proud.

Senator Franken, I realize that you have wealth and this all may be an exercise in pretending to solve problems that won’t ever affect you. But this is my life. And my kids.

So please work harder to get it right. We know you love jokes. But this is serious business and so far, you are getting it wrong.

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23 thoughts on “Dear Senator Franken, this isn’t #SNL. It’s my life.”

I don’t think the author understood Franken. He is all for school choice, he just wants to know essentially what is the litmus going to be if the government issues monetary reward to private schools that can discriminate freely. First, they shouldn’t be able to discriminate. Period. Second, what standards will they be held to and how will we know the efficacy of their programs? He never argued that it’s not possible for there to be great schools of choice. You have good and bad private schools. Some of these schools wouldn’t mind getting some federal funds, but why should they be granted these funds? Of course the public school sector has its flaws, but this doesn’t mean that by default, non-public schools are "better". I think he went after were he knew she was weakest and wasn’t considering the many successful schools out there, but again, it wasn’t his goal to attack private schools, just Devos’ plan

We actually agree on many points and I strongly agree that ALL schools should be held accountable for the education of our children. All public school aren’t bad and all private schools aren’t good. My children’s private school has to issue the same state standardized test that all the local public schools take. I believe six years is to long to allow a school to fail before the state intervenes which is Indiana’s current policy for public schools, while it’s two years before a private voucher school can no longer offer vouchers to students. The senator made statements that lead people to believe with school choice there is no accountability.

You really know your stuff! I agree with school choice but would rather use whatever resources that are availible to change these D and F schools to not be D and F schools. I never understood teaching to the test instead of teaching for life skills. I guess we will have to see what is going to come next.

The problem being that the money that is spent on children that attend charter schools and use vouchers actually belong to that child. The money used for school choice is not extra money, although some would like to make you think that. The state pays the school your children attend a set amount per child. If you move to another school district the next year the state pays that money to that district for your children. If you exercise school choice the state pays only a portion of that money, depending on your income to your school choice and the state keeps the remainder.

While I’m all for school choice to give as many youngsters as possible a quality education, I have a problem with public tax dollars going to religious schools. Also not sure whatever the voucher is from the state, that it would be enough for a number of poor families to send their child to a private and/or parochial school. If the school costs $20K to $30K per year and the state only provides a $7K per year voucher, many families/kids will be effectively foreclosed from attending these schools. Charters, on the other hand do not pose this problem, as they’re free public schools.

In my experience,Most private schools also have financial aid programs that will help offset the difference of what the voucher does not pay and help make affordable payment options for these families for any remaining balances.

Thank You CherylI feel that Franken is "Fundamentally Incompetent" to be a Senator.I live in Minnesota but if Franken’s name comes up I tell everyone I am from North Dakota, saves some embarrassment.Wishing you a Great DayLee

Well said. My husband and I have scrapped to keep our Illinois sons in private school at the cost of new cars, vacations, etc. because the high school in our town rates in the 39th percentile for math and the 40th in reading. And it amazes me that a Catholic school can educate my children for half the cost that the public schools can, and at such a higher quality. My middle son scored 30 on his ACT exam in the fall of his Junior year, thanks to the knowledge and work ethic he has been exposed to. Well worth our modest home, car and staycations when they were younger to know that they will carry excellent academics into college. And we pay thousands every year into a failing school district that we have never used. Bring on choice and I’ll bet the quality of education will jump to unprecedented levels.

Right, I don’t think Ms. Kirk understood Senator Franken’s remarks at all. The line of questioning went to DeVos’ support for school choice even in "A" (high performing) districts. Essentially, DeVos seems to favor tax dollars, and higher-performing students, being diverted to charter and religious schools, even when there are excellent public options. Of course, such diversion will tend to drive down the performance of the public school. NOBODY is talking about eliminating school choice for parents in D/F (failing) districts; the debate is about how far from "A" must a district fall when we will divert public money and good students away from it. DeVos says "at any time," while Senator Franken wanted a stricter test. So I think Md. Kirk’s personal experience with D/F districts is not apt at all.
And, of course, there’s all that stuff about DeVos not understanding proficiency/growth, being flippant about guns, and not promising to enforce civil rights or disability provisions of the DoEd’s mission, but that seems outside this article.

This response has nothing to with support of Devos and everything to do with him attacking a parents right to choice the best options for their children. I personally know parents who have pulled kids from "A" rated schools where their children were not thriving and choose a school that allowed their children the best option of success. This response is about the children and families affected not the numbers or the politics. Just because a school is "A" rated doesn’t make it the best fit for a good student. That choice should be for a parent to make for the future of their children

"It seems we are missing a point….that all Federal Government involvement is with a GUN, called law called do it to make the child uniform and obedient. You are going to get the options of Home Schooling, combined Home Schooling, Montessori Schooling and private schooling. There should be NO government regulation of YOUR CHILD’S education! Oh, and you forgot your most precious Title….United States Citizen! We take our Honor Back from the Clitons and Obambams!"

We need to compare apples to apples… In my experience as a New York public school teacher working in a Title III school in a low income neighborhood, I have 32 first grade students, many did not attend kindergarten, as it is not mandatory. So a lot of them are coming in as non-readers and haven’t had much exposure to books. It is very difficult to provide individualized, small group instruction to meet the needs of all 32! Furthermore, kids who need evaluations for related services (sped, speech, OT, PT) get on a 6+ month waiting list as we only have one part-time school psychologist to do the evals.. under-staffed, overcrowded.. Then we have the charter school down the block that opens up and takes most of our 4th and 5th graders who got 3s and 4s on the state tests– the cream of the crop! They get to choose who gets in and who doesn’t. Class size averages 18. They hold parents accountable. If their kid doesn’t perform, he or she is out, back to public school! And they want to take more money away from public schools? Go after Wall Street, tax the rich more, use the "wall" funds, or perhaps the military’s over-inflated budget! We can’t pretend to be a compassionate society when the rich get richer and the poor can’t break free of the vicious cycle of poverty.

Did anyone read the response by Christina Moloon? She explains why it is hard to have all of our public schools at an "A" rating. Public schools are institutions that must educate ALL CHILDREN regardless of their race, religion, learning ability, home life, etc. You will never be able to compare a public school and a private school as parents who are willing to send their children to private school are engaged in their children’s education so they will automatically do better. For many kids in public school, they are lucky to be there every day. They get themselves ready for school, they get themselves to school, they may not get any food other than what they get at school. I live in a small rural community. The only advantage to that is that the neighborhoods are safe to walk in. If you are poor and have parents that work two or three jobs to support their family, these kids are on their own. Teachers care more in small towns, but there is only so much that they can do. They are not magical beings able to wave wands and make everything right. We need to look at our public schools and find ways to improve them, but testing the crap out of everyone and allowing the best and the brightest to continually leave and take their tax dollars with will solve nothing.

I can’t speak for other states but Indiana Charter schools pick children from a lottery process so they can’t just take the "cream of the crop". I agree ,that all the problems you have listed are keeping our poor and minority children from getting the best quality education. Our public schools have needed fixing for a very long time. I hope that the conversation about quality education or even the strong opposition to school choice brings about change to our urban school districts that have been failing for so long.

It is a very broad assumption to say that all children who choose to attend a school other than their Government-assigned school are the ‘cream of the crop.’ Sure, some students who choose to attend charters or private schools will do quite well in any environment. But often students who are changing schools are not at the top of their class- they are changing schools because they are not succeeding in their current environment. Families are looking for opportunity wherever they can find it.I cannot speak to the laws in other states, but in Indiana our non-public schools that accept voucher students have stricter accountability metrics than any public school. These schools take on the extra accountability and educate kids with much less funding than their public school counterparts.I applaud Mrs. Kirk for writing this letter and bringing attention to the misinformation in Senator Franken’s comments. We need more parents like her!

Very well stated article. Washington politicians need to see articles like this and hear voices like Mrs Kirk’s. Our schools are a mess and we need a change. Giving parents options is a step in the right direction!

Great work Cheryl. I’ve been a democrat my whole life, but am a strong supporter of school choice. Both my boys started at public schools here in Indianapolis. When those schools failed my kids, I gladly accepted the voucher we qualified for and today my kids are thriving. Good work on the article and good for you for speaking up, despite comments from people who don’t agree. I wonder if people had to make the choice for their kids, would they still be against school choice?